


The Labyrinth; A Faerie Retelling

by KrystalMoon



Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: Fae Magic, Faeries - Freeform, Non-Binary Jareth, Other, POV Third Person Limited, The Feywild, fae
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 14:53:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29777823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KrystalMoon/pseuds/KrystalMoon
Summary: Eighteen year-old Sarah accidently wished her brother away. Now she must navigate the Feywild to win him back. But then there's the question of why? The Goblin King would remove all memory of Toby, and it would be as if he never existed. So why does she feel so ashamed?/completed within approx 24h
Relationships: Jareth & Sarah Williams, Jareth/Sarah Williams
Kudos: 6





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is my take on the Labyrinth. Stepping away from the child-like undertones and muppet/animatronics, this take is going to be a little more dark and a much more serious attempt at writing. I want it to be close to the source material while it still being fresh, so some elements will be unfamiliar while other elements may seem familiar.  
> Sarah is 18 in this version.

* * *

**Prologue**

* * *

  
Sarah Williams was fascinated with magic and fairies for her whole childhood. Her mother used to have a large collection of books on the subject and Sarah used to love to be read from them. Sarah’s mother disappeared suddenly one day, and from then on her father forbade any reading of anything magic.

Daydreams weren’t practical for a young lady, he’d say.

Of course, telling a teenager to not do something is pretty much asking them to do it. Especially so when there is little reason for it. Sarah used to ask for a why, but practicality was never a satisfying answer. Eventually, he seemed to give up on it, thankfully, and Sarah was free once more to dive into her books.

Her stepmother, Irene, would insist that it would stunt her growth, but there was no telling Sarah to do much of anything. Any attempt from Irene’s part to act like her mother was futile, as Sarah saw her as an intruder into the family.

It didn’t help that ever since she married Sarah’s father she had stolen attention from Sarah. And then when Toby was born, Sarah had no attention. Only responsibilities she wasn’t ready for such as weekly babysitting duties and nightly chores after her homework. Sarah barely had enough time to herself and it really bothered her a lot. This only got worse as she turned eighteen.

One particular night, Sarah had spent an extra few minutes at the park reading from one of her more current favorites, “The Labyrinth,” and was unintentionally late to get home so Irene and her father could dump Toby on her for goodness knows for how long and without asking Sarah if she even had plans.

Not that she did. But what did that matter?

It didn’t help things when Sarah found her favorite teddy bear, Sir Lancelot, missing from his spot above her bed. That bear had been hers since she was little and was one of very few things she had that was a gift from her mother.

Her father and Irene both already were gone, so Sarah took her anger out on little Toby.

Sarah told Toby a story, about a hopeless young woman who had a wicked stepmother, and an equally wicked little brother who did nothing but scream and cry and got whatever his spoiled little heart desired, even if it was the young woman’s own precious things. She told him that there was a King of the Goblins who had fallen in love with the girl and would take the mean little brother forever and ever and turn him into a goblin.

Toby was far too young to really understand the story, but he cried in terror regardless. Especially when Sarah picked him up and offered him to the ceiling, reciting lines from the story she had read in the park earlier.

The story wasn’t really about a young woman and her little brother, but of a mother and her child. It was a rather fascinating Rumplestiltskin-styled story.

Sarah had reached a point where she started to give up on the idea of magic and fairies, and no longer took the stories as seriously as she had once done.

Perhaps if she had, she never would have wished Toby away.

“I wish the goblins really would come and take you away. Right now.”

* * *

Sarah was scared.

One second Toby was crying, and the next there was only silence.

Her hand delicately gripped at her door handle, her dark-green eyes staring at nothing in particular as she listened hard, a crease forming between her unkempt eyebrows, her thick dark-ash-brown hair framing her face as she had frozen midstep. Letting go, her heartbeat beginning to kick into high gear, Sarah looked over her shoulder.

“Toby?” she asked shakily. There was no answer. There was no way he had fallen asleep. Had he thrown himself over the crib? Sarah was scared to find out. “Toby? Why aren’t you crying?”

Slowly opening the door into the master bedroom, she tried to turn the light back on.

“Oh, don’t tell me the storm knocked the power out…” she whispered to herself as she looked into the room towards the crib.

But the crib was empty.

Fearfully, she looked around the room. There was no sign of robber, or break in, and certainly no sign of Toby either. She clutched at her sides. There’s no way he would have just disappeared like that. Perhaps she was just seeing things.

She inched closer to Toby’s crib and leaned over it. There were blankets, but otherwise there wasn't any sign that the toddler had ever been there.

A noise startled Sarah as the patio glass doors swung open as if they had never been locked. She jumped back, clutching her father’s bed post. She screeched in terror as a large pale barn owl swooped into the room, falling back into the bed. Sarah was not scared of birds, but this one seemed abnormally large and it had just burst through the doors like they were nothing. It certainly induced a flight response as Sarah’s heart nearly thudded itself out of her own chest.

There was someone standing where the owl had been just a moment before, dressed rather curiously flashy for a robber. She couldn't’ make out his face in the dark, but his hair was strange and poofy as if it had a ton of hair spray, but Sarah could tell by the way it moved in the breeze from the incoming storm from the open window that he had not even a drop of hairspray in his hair.

Sarah was sure that the person in front of her was male. He was very tall, and his shoulders were certainly more defined. Of course, in the dark it was hard to tell beyond that in a silhouette, especially when there was a glittering bluish cape obscuring any observation of an hourglass figure.

“Who are you?!” Sarah demanded, clutching at the bedpost once more, pulling herself up to a sitting position and ready to bolt towards the door. “Where’s Toby?!”

“You know exactly where he is, Sarah,” said the figure, tilting their head. The tone was baritone and unfamiliar, but certainly masculine. “That is no mystery seeing as you were the one who wished him away.”

“Wha-?” Sarah stared open-mouthed at the stranger in shock before it clicked. “I hadn’t-... But that wasn’t serious!”

“Wasn’t it?” The figure sounded as if he were mocking her.

“You’re the Goblin King, aren’t you.” It was less of a question and more of a statement that Sarah could hardly believe. “Please, give me my brother back.”

“What’s said is said,” the Goblin King stated, his tone mockingly condescending as he crossed his arms. He tsked her a few times before producing a crystal orb out of nowhere. “Here, I’ve brought you a gift.”

Sarah almost accepted it, standing up and reaching out for it. But something in the back of her head told her to not do it. He handed it out to her, and in the darkness Sarah almost made out a cold smirk on a sharp-featured face.

“What is that?” she asked clumsily, shoving her fists awkwardly into her pockets to stop herself from taking it from him.

“It’s a crystal,” he responded as if that were obvious enough. He began to balance it on a finger. “If you look into it, it will show you your dreams. You’ll forget the baby ever existed as if you never even had a brother.”

“Please, he must be so scared. Please!” Sarah begged, tears stinging her eyes as she begged the figure desperately. The crystal dropped from his finger into the clutch of his hand.

“If you won’t appreciate the gift, I will not offer it to you,” he said in a tone that was edging from mocking into dangerously soft. “This is no gift for any ordinary girl that babysits her spoiled baby brother.”

“It’s not that I don’t appreciate what you are giving me, I just can’t accept it because I need to get my brother back.”

“Why do you keep saying that?” he asked coldly, the crystal disappearing from his grasp as he clenched his fist. “ _ You _ wished him away. Why would you even  _ want _ him back?”

“Because I said it out of frustration. I truly didn’t mean it in my heart. Please, I beg of you to understand, he is not really the subject of my anger. It wasn’t right of me to take it out on him!”

“Watch yourself, Sarah. Be careful not to raise your voice at me,” he said darkly. There was silence. Sarah opened her mouth to say more but the Goblin King cut her off by raising his hand firmly in a “stop” motion, raising his chin slightly. It was too dark for Sarah to make out his expression, but she thought perhaps he was thinking to himself. She dared feel a hint of hope. “How badly do you want your brother back?”

“I’ll do anything.”

The Goblin King regarded her in the darkness a little longer before responding.

“I decided,” he said with finality. “I will give you your brother back under one condition. Just one.” He raised a finger to punctuate the very one-ness that it was before he stepped aside. What had been the patio overlooking the storm outside was now overlooking a peaceful looking glittering labyrinth with a castle in the center. He gestured for Sarah to step through but she had already hurried through, her eyes locked onto the castle and completely ignoring the Goblin King entirely. “Make it to the castle there at the center of the labyrinth within thirteen hours.”

Sarah whipped around to get a better look at the Goblin King, but he, and the house itself, completely disappeared.

There was no way to go but onward then.


	2. Struggling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit similar to the original material with a slight twist on it. Please enjoy.

* * *

**Struggling**

* * *

Sarah had been wandering around the outside of the Labyrinth, a growing feeling of despair and desperation twisting and gnawing at her stomach as her eyes raked the wall. She ran back and forth before wondering if the Goblin King really had started her as far away from the entrance as possible. But there was a beautiful garden and a small hut positioned as if there was an entrance where Sarah had come originally. There should have been an entrance there.

Sarah walked back over to the garden and found a figure of smaller stature who hadn’t been there before. He was standing facing a pool.

“Excuse me,” she called out politely. She covered her mouth as she realized he was facing the pool to use the bathroom. “Oh!”

“Excuse me!” The small figure adjusted himself and pulled his pants up. He whipped around angrily and glared at the girl for startling him. “Wut? I can’t take a mornin’ wee wit-out bein’ botered?!”

He was a curious looking fellow with dark blue eyes and a wrinkled face like an old man. He was half Sarah’s height and seemed to be fully grown, his head, hands and feet large and his body wide. If he had a large white beard and a pickaxe, the little man would have looked like a dwarf from the fairytales.

“I’m really sorry,” Sarah started to say.

“Pah!” The dwarf gestured at her like the topic was unimportant to him and turned his back on her.

“I have been looking for an entrance to the Labyrinth. Could you help me?” she asked.

He ignored her, picking up what looked like a spray can and approached the bushes lining the wall. They were beautiful, but that wasn’t what caught Sarah’s eye. Her green eyes widened as she approached the bushes as if in a trance.

Fairies with beautiful glittering gossamer butterfly wings flitted to-and-fro between branches. A group of them seemed to be playing together, jumping from branch to branch, growing small branches in the bush as they did so. They seemed to be laughing and talking, but all Sarah could hear were tiny bells.

Maybe this was a living fairytale.

“They are so beautiful-oh!”

The dwarf sprayed the group of them and they all fell, withering and screaming in silent agony before ceasing. Sarah stared at them in absolute horror, tears welling up in her eyes. There was one that appeared dazed but still alive. It’s wings seemed damaged from the fall.

“Ha! Gotya, you creepy little pests!” he said happily, doing a small jig in excitement. He approached the next group.

“You’re horrible!” she shouted at the dwarf, picking up the tiny fairy.

“No, It’s Hoggle,” he said impatiently, turning to eyeball Sarah. He looked at what she had cradled in her hands and raised his thick eyebrows at her.

A sharp pain stabbed her thumb and Sarah dropped the fairy in shock.

“What?!” she stared down at her hand, it had little punctures on it like it had been bitten. “She bit me!”

“Wut did you expec’ pixies to do?” Hoggle laughed at her, turning back around to continue spaying them.

“Well, I thought fairies were sweet creatures that did nice things like granting wishes…” she said quietly.

“You have a lot to learn if tha’s wut you think,” he responded boredly. He turned around again. “Wut is yer name?”

“Sarah.”

“That’s wut I thought,” he said, as if anxious. Hoggle turned back around and sprayed the next fairy he saw quickly, before it flew away.

“Do you know where the entrance to the Labyrinth is?”

“Yes.”

“Well, where is it?” she demanded impatiently. Hoggle ignored her and continued what he was doing. “Hey, I asked you where it is?”

“Where wut is?” Hoggle inquired coyly.

“The door.”

“Wut door?”

“Ugh! It’s impossible asking you anything!” Sarah said frustratedly, crossing her arms and turning away.

“Not if you ask the righ’ questions,” he responded pointedly.

Sarah looked over at him in confusion. Then she frowned, and thought about it carefully.

“How do I get into the Labyrinth?”

“Through the entrance. Same as anybody else.” He seemed to be enjoying the exchange, a smirk on his old wrinkly face. Sarah furrowed her brow in concentration. That was not apparently the right question either.

“Where is the entrance to get into the Labyrinth?” she asked him punctually.

“Ah! Now tha’s more like’it. You gets in there,” he said amusedly, pointing at the wall they had passed earlier. But when Sarah looked at it, it wasn’t a wall.

“That wasn’t there before,” she said to herself.

“You, uh, really goin’ in there are ya?”

“I don’t have a choice,” she said quietly. “I have to get my brother back…”

Sarah stepped through the entrance, sure that it had been a solid wall before, and slowly looked down both ways. The dusty path of the Labyrinth looked like it went straight forever past the horizon, the walls were tall and glittered, but there seemed to be no break down either way. Vines and dead/decaying bushes littered the path giving no hint as to which way to go. Sarah but her lip nervously.

“Cozy, innit?” The dwarf said, before laughing at Sarah who had gasped in fright. He seemed thrilled that he had startled her. “Which way yer goin’? Left or right?”

“I can’t tell, they both seem to go for miles with no turns or twists or anything…” Sarah said exasperatedly.

“Yer not gonna get very far,” he responded, putting his hands on his hips.

“Which way would you go?” Sarah asked him, hoping to get more solutions by asking him the right questions.

Hoggle shook his head. “Me? I wouldn’t go either way.”

“Well, if you’re not going to be any help why don’t you just leave me alone?” Sarah scolded.

“Hmph!” He crossed his arms. “You know what yer problem is? You take too many things fer-granted. Take this Labyrinth fer example. Even  _ if  _ you get to the center, yull never get out of it.”

“That’s your opinion,” Sarah said, turning away from him and walking to the right.

“It’s a lot better than yers, lass,” he said in a tone that indicated she was a lost cause.

“Thanks for nothing, Hogwart!” she called out behind her.

“It’s Hoggle, and dun say I never warned ya!” He sounded farther away. He must have walked back out of the Labyrinth.

“I don’t need your warnings,” Sarah responded quietly. “The goal is to get to the center. Then I win and everything goes back to normal.”

Sarah walked for what felt like forever, stepping carefully over brush and branches. She’d look behind her to see how much progress she’d made, but for all she knew she was walking in place. There was nothing that stood out to give her any idea how much progress she’d made.

“The Labyrinth looked like it had so many turns and twists from when I saw it from above. There should have been a break in the wall by now… Besides that…”Sarah looked from one side to the other. “It didn’t look nearly big enough to go over the horizon.”

“Ello!”

Sarah, startled, looked around wildly. There wasn’t a single soul around besides herself. Against the inner wall was a large blue caterpillar. It was staring right at her with big reddish eyes.

“Did you just say hello?”

“I said ‘ello,’ but thas close enough.”

Sarah looked closer at it and realized he didn’t have any feet.

“You’re a worm, aren’t you?”

“S’right!”

“Do you happen to know the way through the Labyrinth?” Sarah asked. “I’ve been walking for a long time and there’s no turns or twists or anything.”

“Waddoya mean? There’s tons! You just ain’t seen’em right.” The worm looked thrilled. “Come in side an ‘ave a cuppa. The missus is about to put on some mornin’ tea.”

The work gestured with its head towards a nearby hole that didn’t seem large enough for Sarah’s hand, let alone her whole body.

“No, thank you,” Sarah declined politely. “I just need to find my way through this Labyrinth… Where are the openings?”

“If you insist. There’s one right across from ya.”

Sarah stared at the wall before her in confusion.

“But that’s just a wall.”

“Look a bit closer, it seems like it’s a wall, but it really isn’t. Things aren’t always what they seem in this place.”

Sarah raised her hands and slowly walked forward. Her hands met no resistance, only air. Her head hurt slightly as she stepped through and realized the wall she had been looking at had only been the wall on the other side of the next corridor. Wasn’t this just the wall to the outside, anyway? Had she gotten turned around somewhere?

“Thank you,” she said to the worm, taking a step to take off to the left. “Always turn to the left.”

“Don’ go tha’ way!” the Worm called out. “Never go tha’ way.”

Sarah peeked back at him, then looked to the other path. So the rule was to the right here, she thought.

“Thank you very much!” She ran off to the right.

The worm made a noise in worry.

“If sheda kept goin’ that way, she would ‘ave gone straight to that castle, poor dear.” The worm sighed and wiggled into his hole in the wall. “I had to warn her.”

Sarah found herself in a different area than before. The walls weren’t as high, and looked to be made out of dusty sandstone rather than glittering bricks. The turns were much more plainly obvious, but she followed her new rule, “always to the right” and kept running in the same circles. She gave up on that, tried the left, then attempted to follow the stone hands pointing in random directions. No matter what, she was always going in circles. She couldn’t see her destination yet above the walls even when she tried to stand on top-toe, and at this point she was so turned around, she was about ready to give up. 

“Oh! Now there’s too many turns…” she complained. “I wish I had a way to mark the way I’ve already been…”

She threw her hands up in exasperation when she brought them back down again, she felt something in her pocket.

Her lipstick? She took it out and stared at it. She didn’t remember putting it in her pocket at all. She frowned at it a moment before shrugging. It would work for the purpose she wanted it to. She drew an arrow on one of the floor bricks and ran off with a new sense of direction. Each direction she tried ended in dead ends, but that was ok. She’d find them all and eventually figure out the way to go by elimination.

“You think that’s working out for you, don’t you?”

Sarah twisted on the spot and stared at the tall figure standing there that hadn’t before. The voice had a light tenor to it, sounding like a low-toned female voice. The figure had a slight, thin feminine frame. She seemed like she was dressed like a pirate, with a French almost Napoleon looking leather pirate hat covering her head, and an angry skull mask covering the entirety of her face. She wore an open front blouse with a strange sickle-shaped pendant on her chest. Sarah spent a little longer staring at their chest than was polite trying to figure out if the figure was actually male because she lacked breasts.

“What are you staring at?” she demanded. “That’s rude.”

“I… Can’t tell if you’re male or female…” Sarah squeaked. “Your voice sounds feminine but you have no…”

“Neither,” they snapped. “Why does it even matter to you?”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Sarah shook her head. “How can someone be neither male nor female?”

“What the bloody hell do you even mean by that?” they demanded.

“I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be rude,” Sarah covered her face. “Things aren’t what they seem in this place and it’s making my head hurt trying to figure it out.”

“So I’m a ‘thing,’ you are trying to figure out, is that right?” they growled.

“This whole world is all new to me. I only mean I am not used to any of this… I’ve read tons of books on magic and fairies, but… This world is so much more different than I thought.”

“Don't call us ‘fairies,’ earth-born,” they said dangerously.

“Maybe instead of getting mad at me for things I don’t understand, teach me!” Sarah snapped at them, scowling and crossing her arms. “It’s not fair. I’ve never been to this world. I don’t know what it’s like! You can’t just expect me to know everything the minute I walk in, can you?”

The figure watched her carefully, scrutinizing Sarah’s every gesture and movement carefully before sighing and shaking their head.

“Fine,” they said impatiently. “Clear your head completely of everything you think the Feywild is. Books written about here were only daydreams. Lesson one: Not everyone is born here like in your world. Get that through your head before you go asking rude and ignorant questions like ‘how can someone be neither male or female?’ You humans have stories about angels, don’t you?”

“You’re an angel?”

“What?” they laughed a little, their tone lightening up a bit. “No, silly… They are non-gendered creatures your world has stories of. Anyway, think of it like that.”

“Ok,” she said quietly. She still didn’t completely understand the concept, but it was decidedly a topic she’d try to wrap her head around later. At this rate she wouldn’t get through the Labyrinth on time. Sarah looked down and at her lipstick line she had only just painted. It was pointing in a different direction. “Wait a second…”

“Lesson two,” they continued, pointing a leather-gloved hand at the mark. “Trying to cheat the Labyrinth that way will get you nowhere.”

“I wasn’t-!” Sarah started to deny the fact she was cheating, but shook her head and sighed in frustration. “It’s not being fair…”

“What about this isn’t fair, Sarah?” they wondered. Sarah snapped her head in their direction, startled at hearing her name through this stranger’s mask. “You wished your brother away. If anyone should be complaining about it not being fair, it should be him.”

“That’s why I need to rescue him!” Sarah argued. “How does everyone know me and my brother anyway? I feel like the Goblin King is making it hard on me for no reason.”

“Is that so?”

“He gave me thirteen hours, and most of this morning I’ve spent trying to figure out the turns and twists. It’s impossible…” she said, trying to fight back angry tears.

“It’s only as impossible as you are making it,” the figure said quietly. “Would you like a hint?”

“Please…” Sarah nodded.

“Keep your destination, your goal, in your heart. Seek it with your whole being,” they said, gesturing to their own chest. “Do that, and eventually you’ll find that the Labyrinth will guide you to your destination. If it’s truly what your heart seeks. However, it cannot be fooled. It will see through to your deepest intentions.”

Sarah frowned at the figure in confusion, worry etching into her green eyes as she cast them down to her feet. When she looked up the figure was gone.

“Wait! I don’t know your name! Will I see you again? I’m really sorry I offended you at first…” Sarah felt disheartened by their disappearance.

At first there was silence.

“My name is Jareth, and yes, I promise you will see me again.”

“Jareth, huh?” Sarah thought to herself. “I’ve never heard of that name before…”

“Ok, then, Labyrinth…” Sarah said out loud. “I need to find my brother. In order to do so I need to get to the center…”

There was no response. Sarah nervously but her lip and looked around. Nothing seemed to have changed. 

“That’s not fair…” Sarah said to herself.

“No ‘snot fair! But tha’s only the ‘alf of it!”

Sarah turned around and stared at the curious creatures behind her. They were holding shields and looked like they had two heads, one right side up, and the other upside down. It nearly looked like there were four creatures, two per shield, but wouldn’t the bottom half get dizzy? And there was only one pair of legs per shield.

“Wait, but this was a dead end a second ago…”

“That’s the dead end behind you!” said the other shield. They all started snickering hysterically. Sarah turned around and sure enough.

“This place keeps changing!”

“Tha’s the nature of the Labyrinth, lass. Best get used to it,” said the red shield’s bottom head.

“Well the only way forward now is through one of these doors,” said the bottom blue one.

“But you should know that one of these doors leads to the castle. And the other one leads to-.”

“Bu-bu-bu-bum!”

“-certain death.”

All four of the heads made fake spooky “ooo” noises like children trying to scare someone.

“Which one do I go through to get to the castle?” Sarah asked, ignoring the antics impatiently.

“Er… Best ask them, lassie.”

“We don’t know. But they do.”

“Ok…” Sarah shook her head exasperatedly and looked at the top heads. “Which door do I go through?”

“We can’t just tell you,” said the red shielded one.

“Why not?” Sarah demanded.

“It’s in the rules,” explained the blue one. “It’s a riddle. You can’t ask both of us, you can only ask one of us, that’s a rule too. One of us always tells the truth. One of us always lies. He always lies.”

“I do not! I tell the truth!” The red one snapped.

The bottom heads snickered.

Sarah groaned. That kind of riddle she was never good at. What was the solution? She could never remember very well. Her head perked up suddenly as she was hit with an idea.

“Wait, you!” She walked up to the red shield. He shrunk a little behind his shield. “Would he tell me this door leads to the castle?”

He popped his head down and murmured to his lower half for a second before he popped back up.

“Yes?” the red shield answered.

“Alright,” Sarah stood back smiling. “Then his door is the one that leads to the castle, and this door leads to certain death.”

“How do you know that for sure?” he asked, confused.

“I asked you if he would tell me that your door is safe. You said that he would say it would be. So I know you’re lying, which would mean it would be that one that goes to the castle.”

“But I could be telling the truth!” the red one stated, raising up a paw.

“But then he wouldn’t be, which would mean that that door is still the safe one,” Sarah replied happily.

“Uh… Wait. Is that right!” the red one asked

“I don’t know! I never understood it!” laughed the blue one.

“No! It’s right!” Sarah said brightly, going over to the blue shield’s door. He stepped out of the way and allowed her to pass. She opened the door, practically skipping. “I think I’m getting smarter! This Labyrinth is a piece of cake!”

The floor opened up beneath her and down she fell, screaming for help into pitch darkness. She felt herself being softly, gently stopped and in horror realized she was being grabbed by what felt like hands.

“Get off me!” she screamed. “Help!”

“‘Get off you?’” asked a voice, offended. “But we are trying to help you!”

“We are helping hands!” said another.

“Did she want to fall to her death? It is a long way down…” 

The hands let go. Sarah screamed and reached for the hands as her stomach did a somersault inside her. They grabbed onto her again, chuckling.

“Well then, come on, which way?”

“Which way?” she repeated.

“Yes, up or down?”

“Come on, decide! We haven’t got all day.”

“Well, it’s a big decision for her.”

“Yes, which way, which way?”

“Uh, well… I guess I’m already heading down, then I’d like to go that way?” Sarah said looking at the inky darkness beneath her. “It seems scary, but things aren’t what they seem,” she thought.

“She chose  _ down!” _

“She chose  _ down?!” _

“Was I wrong?!” Sarah asked as they passed her gently downward. _“Wait!”_

“Too late now!”

The hands disappeared after a second and with a heavy clang of a metal grate over head, Sarah found herself stuck in the darkest place she’d ever been with only the faintest of light from far above her to illuminate anything around her. It wasn’t enough to reach down in the hole.

She stared in shock above her for a while before despair started to set in, fresh hot tears angrily burning her eyes.

“It’s not fair…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In my head Sarah is naive and ignorant, and I wanted to paint this picture most appropriately by challenging her character with concepts she wouldn’t understand yet to more perfectly illustrate just how topsy-turvy this place is for her.  
> And we all know who Jareth is. Except Sarah. We know how this ends (or do we?) But it’s about how we get there, not the destination.  
> Please due keep in mind, though, please no transphobia in comments. ❤️


	3. Manipulation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's were we really start to branch away from the base story. Forgive my creative liberties I'm taking on this. I'm really very excited to be working on this as if it weren't obvious by essentially writing 7.5K words in one day...

* * *

**Manipulation**

* * *

How was she going to get out? How could she possibly escape?

These were questions Sarah had abandoned a long time ago. Hours had ticked by. At this rate, the Goblin King would have won the child by now, the cheating asshole.

Sarah clutched at her shirt angrily, hugging her knees she was scared to move, tear stains of hours old crying on her face, her eyes feeling dry and still stinging. She was feeling a little sleepy from the amount of sobbing she had done.

“Giving up, are you?” That familiar baritone voice again.

“No! I’m not giving up!” Sarah snarled, turning around, ready to lunge herself at the Goblin King. Instead she saw Jareth with their skull mask holding a burning torch. She frowned in confusion. “Oh, it’s you.”

“I figured you’d get yourself into trouble,” Jareth said lightly, tapping their forehead. “You really don’t know what you want, do you?”

“I want to rescue Toby,” Sarah said grumpily.

“As I told you, you can’t lie to the Labyrinth. It knows that is not what you really, truly want.”

“Then what do I want then, Jareth?”

Jareth busied themselves with lighting a nearby brazier, seemingly ignoring Sarah’s question for a while.

“That’s not something I know, Sarah. That is something only you know.” They sighed and turned to face her, tilting their head. “Perhaps you should ask yourself ‘why’ you want to save Toby. Maybe that might help you understand your own intentions. Clearer intentions means a much clearer translation to the Labyrinth.”

“What couldn’t be more clear?!”

“Sarah, do you know where you are right now?”

“In a hole with no way out,  _ obviously.” _

“You are in an oubliette,” Jareth responded, ignoring her comment.

“Same thing,” Sarah spat bitterly.

Jareth made an impatient noise through their nose letting silence take over a moment.

“The only reason you’d find yourself down here would be because a part of you wanted to be,” Jareth stated coldly. “Some deep inner part of you wants Toby to be a goblin. A dark, spoiled whisper inside you thinks being an only child would solve your problems in your world. That part of you, Sarah, is irrational, emotional, and blindly desperate to appear as if you are doing the noble thing and going out of its way to prevent you from succeeding. Again, I ask.” Jareth’s voice rang in the darkness, their voice dipping into baritone levels as it echoed off the rocky walls of the oubliette. “What is it that you truly want?”

“I don’t know! Ok?! I really don’t know!” Sarah clapped her hands to her ears and crouched down. “I want to do the right thing…”

Her voice broke at the end and she collapsed into sobs. Jareth waited patiently, quietly, for her to finish on her own, their eyes glittering with an expression that could never be read through their skull mask.

“Why, Sarah?”

“Because if I don’t, everyone will be mad at me. I’ll be in trouble.”

“Who? Who would be mad at you? Your father? Irene? They won’t ever remember. Their memories would be wiped of Toby completely. It would be as if he never existed. Nobody would judge you.”

“I would…” she sobbed.

“Why?”

“What do you even know?! Do you have any brothers or sisters?!” Sarah demanded through angry tears.

“Plenty,” Jareth said guardedly.

“Then why are you so confused why I feel obligated to save my Brother?”

Jareth removed the skull mask in a brisk movement, pushing it upward above their forehead. It shocked Sarah into silence. Their face was femininely beautiful, angular and elven with slanted ice blue eyes, and a high cheek-boned sharp face. For a moment, Sarah completely forgot what she was thinking and all she wanted to do was please this person. To make that look of fury go away.

“I am not human, Sarah,” Jareth said in a dangerously soft voice, slowly punctuating each word, each syllable with care. “The only humans here in the labyrinth are you and Toby. We do not have familia bindings to one another. Most of us are solitary.”

“Why are you even following the Goblin King then anyway?”

Sarah was confused by the confusion that passed through Jareth’s face a moment and misunderstood it to mean something.

“He’s your brother, isn’t he?”

“No,” Jareth said, staring at Sarah, even more confused. “And… I don’t follow the Goblin King. I answer to no one.”

“Then help me out of here?”

“Sarah,” Jareth started to say, then shook their head. “I can get you out of here but you’re going to be on your own with solving the Labyrinth, understood?”

“Fine.”

Jareth picked up a piece of wood and yanked it open like a door. What had been a wall was now a doorway. Jareth silently led Sarah down corridors of stone faces. Their eyes seemed to follow them as they moved, but no sound of rock against rock was heard. Sarah wondered if it was just her imagination. She rubbed the dried salt on her cheek against her sleeve, trying to wipe her face off from her crying earlier, sniffling as she tried to clear her sinuses so she could breath.

“What’s the Goblin King really like anyway?” Sarah wondered out loud as they walked through the network of underground tunnels. It was starting the change from rock to laid brick and almost looked like an unused sewer. Jareth looked over their shoulder at Sarah without breaking pace and shrugged, shaking their head. “For someone rebelling against their king, you sure aren’t very vocal about his tyranny.”

“Tyranny?” Jareth stopped short and turned so sharpy that Sarah nearly walked right into them. She took a step back. “Really? What has he done that is so tyrannical?”

Sarah felt the fire of her temper flaring again. Why didn’t Jareth understand this? Why did she have to explain it to them?

“Kidnapped my brother. Gave me a challenge I thought would be easy but no, it’s impossible because his Labyrinth cheats. It’s changing and he didn’t warn me about that at all. He just threw me in here expecting me to fail. All because what? Because I did what every other human being in the world does when they get angry and say something they didn’t really mean?! Am I not allowed to lose my temper?! I’m human! News flash, everyone loses their temper sometimes! I don’t understand why  _ he _ expects  _ me  _ to be perfect and is punishing me by putting me through this ridiculousness in order for me to make things right in the first place!” Sarah shouted, her words echoing through the tunnels.

Jareth’s face had gone from angry to flat during her whole rant. They waited for Sarah to stop talking before stepping close to her and leaning in so their faces were only inches apart.

“You wished your brother away. Not me. You asked that the child be taken. I took him. You begged me for a way to win him back when I refused to give him back. I took pity on you and I gave you a way to do so.” Jareth angrily punctuated their “I’s” and they echoed through the tunnels. “A feasible challenge to at least teach you an important life lesson everyone needs to learn. ‘Words have power, and they can hurt in permanent ways.’ And if you truly wanted him back, you’d have made it by now, Sarah. But you know deep in that heart of yours that you don’t want him back. Yet here you are still banging your head constantly against the walls trying desperately to do something you don’t want to do. Because you think, somewhere in your mind, that I am the bad guy, and you are the white knight here to rescue your helpless baby half-brother from the villain. Have I nailed that on the head, Sarah?”

Sarah was speechless with shock. She had backed into the wall behind her and realized that Jareth had cornered her.

“You’re the…”

“Have I nailed that on the head?” Jareth repeated impatiently.

“But you’re…?”

“The Goblin King, yes, Sarah,” they said impatiently. “Do keep up and answer my question.”

“Y-you’re wrong. You’re only trying to trick me!”

“How very human-like of you, Sarah,” Jareth said quietly, standing up straight, their tone in deep baritones of disappointment. “Absolving yourself of your own flaws. Instead of acknowledging them, you demonize another when they have only been trying to help you this entire time.”

Jareth turned away slightly, looking down one of the bricked corridors.

“Hoggle.”

“Yes, your majesty?”

“She is to go to the start of the Labyrinth-.”

“NO! No that’s not fair! You can’t do that!” Sarah shouted at Jareth, stamping her foot.

“‘Not fair?’” Jareth repeated, blinking. Their tone dripped with malice and loathing. “You say that so often. I wonder what your basis of comparison is?”

“You can’t do th-!” she screamed, taking a wild step towards Jareth.

“I can!” Jareth shouted, stepping up towards Sarah, nearly knocking her to the ground in the process. Their words echoed off the walls painfully. Then they dropped their tone with a sneer of disgust. “Be grateful that is all I’m doing, little girl. I could just completely send you home. Instead, I am giving you another chance. I recommend considering my generosity at this point before you destroy what little patience I have for you left.”

Jareth stepped away and disappeared.

The dwarf looked after the Goblin King a moment before scratching the back of his head beneath his cap.

“Well, come on, lass,” he gestured for Sarah to follow him.

“I’m not going to start all over again. Not when I’ve gotten this far.”

“Trust me, Sarah, it only gets worse from here. Yer far better off goin’ back to yer home and jus’ forgettin’ this mess,” Hoggle stated, shaking his head.

Sarah racked her brain for a solution. Surely she could outsmart the Goblin King easily. She felt offended that they pretended to be remotely in the right when they were so very much in the wrong. She wanted to make them suffer.

“I’ll make you a deal,” Sarah pushed impatiently. “Take me as far as you can take me going to the center of the castle, and I’ll give you this.”

She pulled off a bracelet she had been wearing with plastic crystals.

“Wut makes you think I’d like anything like that?” he asked, scowling at the play-jewelry.

“Because I notice you carry a small hoard of jewels on your side,” Sarah said quietly. “These have sentimental value to them, too. They were my mother’s when I was little. I wouldn’t give these to just anyone.”

“Oh, fine…” Hoggle said grumpily, holding out his hand. “I’ll take you as far as I can, but once I’m done, I’m done. Understood?”

“Thank you, Hoggle!” Sarah gave her new friend a tight hug. “I knew there was a soft heart somewhere in there!”

“Gettoffme,” he snapped, pushing her off. “What the heck was that for?”

“It’s a hug,” Sarah said, blinking in shock. “Friends give each other hugs.”

“Friends?”

“Well, yea. You’re my friend, aren’t you?”

“I don’t know nuthin’ about bein’ someone’s friend, so don’t go expecin’ anythin’ from me.”

Hoggle took Sarah a little further through the tunnels before directing her to a ladder. It was a long way up, and both Hoggle and Sarah were quiet as they ascended it. Sarah worried a little if her friend truly was going to keep to his word and not take her to the beginning. She had lied about the plastic bracelet. Fairies were said to be clever, but apparently dwarves were not. Sarah hoped he wouldn’t catch on.

With a deft movement, Hoggle lifted the lid off at the top of the ladder and it fell with a thud outside. He climbed out first. Sarah followed and stared around herself at her surroundings. It was a beautiful hedge maze. Better yet, the castle was in plain sight. Now that she finally had some real bearings, Sarah was confident that she could win.

“Alrigh’ this is as far as I’ll be taken ya.”

“What?!” Sarah turned to face Hoggle who was starting to walk away. She lunged forward and yanked his jewels attached to his belt clean off. “Oh no you don’t! As far as you can take me, remember?”

“Give those back! Those aren’t yours! Thems mine!”

“Nope! We had a deal! You’ll get those back after you take me further!”

“Oh, fine keep them!” he shouted, turning away from her. “I shouldn’ta ever helped you!”

“But we had a deal!” Sarah whined. “You know you want to get back at Jareth the same as me. He bullies you, doesn’t he?”

Hoggle twisted back around and glared back at Sarah.

“Don’t know what you are talkin’ ‘bout,” Hoggle muttered.

“You’re scared of him, aren’t you?” Sarah said, narrowing her eyes. “Coward, that’s why you won’t take me farther in, isn’t it?”

Hoggle turned his back on her and disappeared, muttering to himself. He left Sarah behind, the Labyrinth closing itself off behind him, so if she followed him, she’d have been cut off by now. Either way, he was heading back home.

Snobby little human, he thought angrily. Part of him hoped she was following so she’d realize he was taking her back to the beginning just like Jareth had asked him to do. But instead, he had taken her even farther.

The dwarf dwelled on this anxiously until he was stopped suddenly by Jareth.

“Dare I even ask?”

“Y-yer Majesty, I apologize you startled me!” Hoggle gasped, clutching his chest with his huge dwarven hands.

“Didn’t I ask you to do something?” Jareth asked, tilting their head at him and narrowing their eyes. “Could it be that you actually disobeyed my direct order, Hoggle?” Hoggle was gaping like a fish. “Why are you helping her, anyway?”

“She said we was friends…” Hoggle looked down at the ground. It rather upset him.

“Friends?” Jareth’s tone softened into a more gentle pattern. They crouched in front of the dwarf and examined him. “She took your jewels?” Hoggle clutched at the absence on his belt, his heart flipping in panic. He had almost forgotten that Sarah had stolen them off his belt. Jareth’s eyes were cold as ice as they covered their mouth with a gloved hand. “My poor soft-hearted dwarf. Perhaps next time you won’t lose your head over a human girl?”

Jareth stood up and tapped their chin.

“Here, give her this,” Jareth gestured in midair, producing a crystal. With a swift movement, they tossed it at Hoggle.

“What is it?”

“A peach, Hoggle.”

“It won’t hurt her wouldit?” Hoggle asked them worriedly. Jareth chuckled a little. “I wont do nothin’ to harm her!”

“The peach will not hurt her, I promise,” Jareth pledged, covering their heart. “It isn’t poisoned, Hoggle. Only enchanted.”

“Alrigh’ then... “ Hoggle turned around and hobbled back after Sarah, a new sense of purpose in his hand. Whatever it did, Jareth surely had a reason for it.


	4. Nothing Else Matters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter just for the Ballroom scene.~

* * *

**Nothing Else Matters**

* * *

Sarah couldn’t remember where she was, how she got there, or even why she was at the ball in the first place. Mirrors decorated the walls making it seem a lot bigger than it probably was, but to Sarah the room was already massive enough. There were so many people there. Beautiful people with slanted eyes and long pointed ears. Some wore masks, some wore dresses, some had beards, and some were a combination of the three. But they all were inhumanly beautiful. Sarah was completely enchanted for a moment, until she caught sight of her own reflection. Her hair was done with beautiful waves around a silver and diamond headpiece and a princess-like extremely poofy nearly entirely white-pink dress decorated with lace and flowers. It would have been pretty had it not been her face that was looking back at her in the mirror. Round-eyed, bushy eyebrowed, puffy cheeked, sad looking Sarah.

She turned away from the depressed-looking reflection and walked through the crowd. Curious at first as to what they were doing. Some were dancing, others were socializing. It all seemed so grand. So well put together. Everyone seemed to know someone else, and Sarah began to realize by the stares that it was rather uncharacteristic for someone to be alone. Maybe she shouldn’t have ventured so far out in the open.

Something glittering and blue caught Sarah’s eye, and she turned to look inquisitively. Her jaw dropped open ever so slightly. The person was clad in a very glittery, crystal encrusted princely outfit. Their gender seemed more ambiguous than the majority of the people around them, though he (or she?) was just as beautiful, if not more. It could have been that Sarah was biased, but their feminine face seemed by far the most eye catching. Sarah didn’t realize they had been smirking at her, until she saw it slide into a look of obvious confusion. Something was making them frown. Sarah wondered what it could be.

They disappeared as someone walked between them, and Sarah felt aggravated.

“No, wait!”

She pushed through the crowd, looking around. How could he or she just disappear like that? And why did Sarah feel so drawn to them? Maybe they also had the answer as to why she was here in the first place. Finding them again became her soul purpose. She ignored the other people, pushed past dancers, entertainers, even some of the ones that laughed and asked her for a dance out of pity. She only had eyes for one person, whoever they were.

Sarah felt eyes behind her, and she turned around. There they were. Her heart leapt in her chest as they approached her slowly. Before she even had time to think suddenly they were dancing. This close, Sarah could see the earrings. Blue sapphire drops hanging from the lobes of long pointed ears. Had she never noticed the ears before? The nearly white-blond poofy hair was decorated with glittering blue to match their outfit.

“You won't even enjoy your ball?” The tone was masculine and yet feminine at the same time, deep baritones with a musical flourish. “I spent so much time on this making it just for you, you know.”

“I know you, somehow. I just don’t remember from where,” Sarah said softly, not trying to sound as lofty as her voice came out. She felt her cheeks burn in embarrassment. A flash of white, sharp teeth as Sarah’s dance partner grinned a bit.

“I don’t think you’ve ever known me,” they replied amusedly.

“That’s strange,” Sarah said softly. “It must be deja vu then. I feel like we’ve met before, at least.”

“Hmm,” was all they responded with.

“Jareth…” Sarah whispered. This shocked them both so much they stopped dancing. “Sorry, I just remembered your name. Isn’t that right?”

“Yes, it is,” Jareth responded gently, worried about something. “How much can you remember?”

“Not much else. I know who I am. I don’t know why or how or where I am right now. I kind of feel like I’ve known you my entire life, though you’ve said I barely know you. I seem to remember that I am a little confused if you are male or female…” She sighed.

“Neither. Does it really matter that much to you?”

“Only a little,” Sarah said carefully. “Only because I fell in love with you and I only wonder what parts to imagine you-.” Sarah covered her mouth with shock. “That was a thought, I didn’t even realize I was speaking out loud!” Her face burned with embarrassment, but Jareth only laughed at her. It sounded genuine and appealing. Like bells. Very feminine.

“I’m sorry, I must have misunderstood. You have been fantasizing about me?” Jareth asked, quizzically amused.

“I think so?” Sarah felt like she was going to burn up from embarrassment.

“Shhh, precious,” they pressed their forehead against Sarah’s and smiled comfortingly. “Don’t be embarrassed… I think it’s cute. Also, flattering that you would think of me like that.”

They turned her in a flourish before bringing her even closer than she had been before, their lips pressing against Sarah’s ear.

“To answer your inquiry; Whatever fits the moment, precious. I have magic, if you remember. Fae do not procreate the same way humans do, so fantasize away. Copulation is only for fun in the Feywild,” they purred. Goosebumps and a thrill ran through Sarah at the same time.

They danced in silence for a moment, a frown forming on Jareth’s face. “What is it?” Sarah finally asked.

“I’m beginning to wonder if this is your dream or mine,” they said gently. “I’ve never seen this side of you, Sarah. I’m not sure if I should be worried.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Sarah tilted her head a little and blinked up at them. “Is this only a dream?”

“I’m afraid it is,” they said softly, barely over a whisper.

“That’s disappointing…” Sarah felt her heart drop like a weight suddenly. She broke from the dance and wrapped her arms around their torso. “I hope I never wake from this.”

Sarah felt them tense up the moment she flung her arms around them, but at her declaration, they seemed to relax.

“Me too, precious…” they purred, pressing their lips into Sarah’s hair.

“I need you to make me a promise,” Sarah said, fighting back her despair. Time was coming close for her to wake up, she could feel it. She pulled back to look up at them. Their eyes were pained. “When I wake up, please promise me we will both remember this.”

“I promise,” Jareth said smiling sadly. “But, somehow I think you’ll wish you would forget this.”

“Are we fighting?” Sarah asked, confused.

“I’m afraid so, yes.”

Sarah frowned and bit her lip in thought.

“Was this perhaps supposed to be a trap, then?”

“That admittedly backfired, yes,” Jareth said hesitantly. “I’m going to wake you up, Sarah. Come find me at the castle.”

Sarah clutched at Jareth’s blue velvety coat.

“Just a little longer!”

“There’s no time, Sarah. You only have an hour left.”

Jareth leaned in and kissed Sarah softly on the lips, pressing her close to themselves. She reached up and touched their face. The sensation felt new to her and she was unwilling to let the moment go. She felt claws digging into her back, and somehow that made her feel like she wanted more. Jareth’s breathing caught and they pulled away, pressing a gloved hand to their mouth, a shocked look on their face.

The striking of a clock woke Sarah up from her dream. She stared around her, dazed and confused. Upset at first that the dream wouldn’t continue, and equally annoyed with the clock striking downstairs. It was midnight, Sarah thought darkly, counting all twelve gongs. Was her dad and Irene home by now? Sarah was distracted by her reflection when she got up to go to the door. Her lip was red. She tilted her head slightly. Lipstick? She wiped her lips off. The red came off easily, but it smelled like blood and stained a dark reddish-almost brown color on her sleeve. She looked in the mirror again, examining. There were no wounds on her lip.

“How strange…” she said, turning her head to look at her lips from another angle. Something else caught her eye. Her ears were pointed. She frowned at her reflection and backed away. “That’s right… I’m in the Labyrinth. In the… Feywild.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Despite the fact that I had set out to deliberately avoid it... This has apparently tricked me into becoming a Jareth/Sarah piece... Well, so be it...


	5. Epilogue

* * *

**Epilogue**

* * *

Sarah spent a little time trying to remember everything beyond her goal as she sprinted through the junkyard towards the back entrance into the Goblin City, dodging past surprised junk collectors.

Hoggle had disappeared somewhere, then Sarah had navigated through another door test with talking knockers, a forest with interesting faeries desperate to waste what precious time she had. Then Hoggle had found her. They had to navigate through a place called the “Bog of Eternal Stench,” which seemed to be a rather old looking swamp. It was appropriately named. Sarah had gotten intensely thirsty and hungry as she hadn’t eaten in many hours. Hoggle gave her a peach.

Jareth met her in the dream. Was it really them, though, or just what Sarah wanted to believe Jareth was like? Was the Goblin King actually in love with her? There was only one way to know for certain. She would deal with Hoggle betraying her later. Though part of her felt she deserved it. She had manipulated him earlier. Perhaps she would just forget about it. Maybe they could make up and be friends after this was over.

Sarah made it to the back gates of the Goblin City. An armored guard stood, leaned up against his pike snoring. Sarah pushed the doors open, hoping the guard wouldn’t notice. The door creaked loudly and Sarah cringed and looked over at the watchman. He didn’t even stir. Still she wouldn’t risk it. She slipped inside and shut the door behind her.

She made it, she realized.

Sarah’s eyes widened in wonder. The houses were crudely built, and rather small as the inhabitants were Goblins who ranged in sizes from about shoulder height to knee-high. Other kinds of fae seemed to live in the city as well. Sarah noticed quite a few she didn’t recognize. Perhaps bugbears and hobgoblins? Sarah’s presence went mostly ignored for the most part. A few stared at her as she passed them, but her approach to the castle was quiet and seemed almost expected.

Sarah found herself drawn to the throne room where Jareth sat quietly, observing her walking in as if in deep contemplation.

“I made it here within thirteen hours, as agreed.”

“Not by yourself,” they said emotionlessly.

“No, but that wasn’t ever part of the deal.”

“I make the terms of the deal, Sarah. I can add or take away whatever fineprint I like.”

“I see,” Sarah said thinking to herself.

“Toby is home, in his crib,” Jareth said lightly. “Truthfully, he has been there for quite some time now.”

“What? How long?”

“Pretty close to the moment you entered the Labyrinth, Sarah. Had you not made it, I would have simply taken the baby back here.”

Sarah frowned but didn’t reply.

“Were you expecting a confrontation?” Jareth wondered, leaning back to lounge on their throne. “You seem a bit unsatisfied with this victory of yours.”

“Well, to be quite honest, I never thought this through completely,” Sarah said softly.

“Really? It wasn’t obvious,” Jareth said sarcastically. “Though, I must admit I am curious, Sarah. Would you have come begging for my mercy had you not made it?”

“Actually, I had a plan to offer myself in place of Toby.”

“How uncharacteristically selfless of you,” Jareth said boredly, leaning their face onto their gloved hand. Sarah bit her lip nervously. Maybe the dance truly was something that had only been in her own head.

“It was… More so for selfish reasons, actually,” Sarah said to her feet as she cast her gaze downward. “Toby shouldn’t have ever been the one who disappeared. It should have been me to start with since I was the one who never fit at home.” Sarah took a deep steadying breath. “I had hoped you would also remember…”

Sarah trailed off into silence and looked up, expecting to see Jareth looking at her confused, but instead they had pressed their fingers to their lips and were looking away, as if contemplating. Maybe they had remembered.

“Sarah,” Jareth began, hesitantly.

“Look, I know I won. But, perhaps I can wish myself away?”

“No,” Jareth shook their head and stood up. “That won’t be necessary.”

“Don’t send me back, please.”

“Sarah.”

“I’m begging you,” Sarah’s voice broke into a barely contained sob and she fell to her knees at Jareth’s boots.

“Sarah!” Jareth scowled down at her. “Get up.”

“I don’t want to go back.”

 _“I’m not sending you back, Sarah, so get a grip on yourself, would you?!”_ Jareth snapped. “Stand up, already.”

“Y-you’re not?”

“No,” Jareth said, as they offered a gloved hand impatiently which Sarah took and helped her back on her feet. Sarah noted the pressure from their hand was a little stronger than she’d imagined, but she wondered if that was because of the topic.

“You ate food here in the Feywild,” Jareth said darkly. “To send you back would be a death sentence for you. Besides that, it’s been over a few weeks in your world. They had already forgotten and moved on without you.”

“So now what?”

“Hmmm.” Jareth looked away a moment, then back, a small smirk on their face. “Well, how about another deal?”

With a step, the room became a bedroom.

“You become my Goblin Queen. And in exchange we continue where our dream left off.”

”I accept this deal. Does it come with any hidden terms or conditions?”

”I could make you run the Labyrinth again, precious,” Jareth said teasingly, taking off their gloves. Sarah was fascinated by their long fingers and sharp nails. There were only three fingers and a thumb per hand. Jareth grinned, showing off sharp, almost vampiric teeth. Sarah felt a gnawing, different kind of hunger in her stomach as Jareth ran their fingernails along her skin under her clothes. “Now, where exactly were we?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My almost 24/h hobby project is completed. Maybe now my brain will let me return to the Faerie King....


End file.
